Courtesy: Neelakantan Anand

Stunning photographs capture
beauty of the sky at night

These awe-inspiring pictures show the beauty of our night skies as seen at locations around the world. They were the winners of this year's International Earth and Sky photography contest.

The images were chosen for as the best examples of how important and amazing the starry sky is and how it affects our lives, as well as how bad the problem of light pollution has become.

The annual contest, which was organised by The World At Night, was open to all and around 200 entries were sent from over 30 countries.

The winner: 'Temple Night' by Chris Kotsiopoulos, presents a panoramic view from the Poseidon temple in Cape Sounion of Greece with a starry sky in one direction and immense light pollution of Athens toward the other horizon

Observatory and Capital' by Mahdi Zamani: The Iranian night sky photographer made this panoramic image from Byurakan Observatory near Yerevan, the capital of Armenia

'Lights of Los Angeles' by Ali Douraghy: This panoramic photo shows the lights of this metropolitan as seen from the Griffith Observatory. Judge David Malin, said: 'What a spectacular waste of energy! And what a spectacle, all the way to Santa Catalina Island.'

First prize in the Beauty of Night Sky category - 'Full Moon Rainbow' The photo is taken from the Yosemite Falls of California in a moonlit night

'Starry Night of Croatia'. This wide-angle photo is taken in black and white mode and shows the starry sky above Sjeverni Velebit National Park in Croatia

'Lights vs .Stars' by Fredrik Broms: This image is taken near Kvaloya in Norway

'Light House and Stars' (left) was a runner-up. The photo was taken from coast of Oregon in USA, framing a seaside starry night and strong rays from a light house

'Stargazers' (right) was taken during a public observing night above a hill overlooking Targoviste, Romania

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